An open letter to my mom on her 70th birthday
“You and me against the world.” That was the Helen Reddy song we claimed as our own in the 70’s and it has been our motto ever since. My mother had me very young and my parents divorced just a few years later. We started our new journey in a small apartment, not lavish by any means. I started Kindergarten and mom started her career, working her way up in a man’s corporate world to provide for us. And even though there were times that we had to make a pound of ground beef last a week, I never went without. She always found a way to save for a beach vacation, or a themed birthday party, or (even though I didn’t appreciate them at the time), braces. Her success was an inevitable outcome based on her strong will, her dedication, and her tenacity of spirit.
We went through normal growing pains, the years when a daughter is finding herself and must pull away to do so but I always knew she was a phone call away. Having kids of my own has bonded us in an even more meaningful way. She’s the strongest person I know and she’s been right beside me through life’s most beautiful moments and most heartbreaking. Also, who else can you call to find out how to remove red kool-aid from a beige couch? This parenting job is no joke and it’s hard not to judge yourself on a daily basis. I think my proudest moment may have been the first time my mother told me that I was a good mom. A compliment from Mother Teresa herself couldn’t have meant more.
When my 6 year old is telling me I’m the meanest mom in the world because he can’t wear his Superman cape to school, I just want to say: let’s skip this part. Let’s go right to the part where you realize that I went to three stores to find that cape, when you realize that I sometimes watch you when you sleep and am so utterly overcome with love that it is hard to breathe. And if there are times that you think I’m the meanest mom in the world because I’m making the hard choices then I guess I’m doing my job right. So to all you moms out there (including myself) who think your children will never appreciate you, they will. It may take having kids themselves, but it will happen.
I’ll end with the part of our song that always makes me cry:
“And when one of us is gone
And one of us is left to carry on
Then remembering will have to do
Our memories alone will get us through
Think about the days of me and you
You and me against the world”
So happy birthday to my mother, my hero, my best friend.
jedimommy 